There was something in the air in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Witchfinder General (1968) had smuggled elements of realism and noir into the Hammer-esque Gothic horror cycle, and in doing so had spearheaded a run of films preoccupied with the persecution of women in the 17th century, some more salacious than others. Witchhammer, a Czech film directed by Otakar Vávra, seems on the surface (particularly from the promotion) to be a pale imitation of Witchfinder General, but as the film progresses, it is clear that the director wants us to look beyond the 17th century for meaning. Like Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, Witchhammer is laden with contemporary  meaning, but like Vávra Czech  contemporaries, Věra Chytilová (Daisies) and  František Vláčil (Marketa Lazarová and The Valley of the Bees) the director was working in a politically charged country. As such, the depiction of the corruption of those with power and the plight of those without power become all the more impressive.

Beyond this monumental subtext lies the drama, and Witchhammer is absorbing and entertaining – it creeps along, ratcheting up the tension,. It’s unsettling with cut scenes of a faceless man reading sections of the Malleus Maleficarum, and inspiring with scenes of men and women resisting torture and pushing back against the hypocrisy of their accusers.

Important and watchable – it’s one of the more accessible Czech movies of the time. Watch in a double bill with The Valley of the Bees.